Air circulating means for buildings



April 5, 1960 0. D. INSCOE AIR CIRCULATING MEANS FOR BUILDINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 07/5 0. //v$c'05,

y/m mozvl alv n April 5, 1960 o. D. INSCOE 2,931,287

AIR CIRCULATING MEANS FOR BUILDINGS Filed July 19, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 07/5 0. //V$COE Unite States Patent" v 2,931,287 CIRCULATING MEANS FOR BUILDINGS Otis D. Inscoe, Oxford, N.C.

. Application July 19, 1957, Serial No. 672,957

4 Claims. (or. 98-34) This invention relates to means for automatically controlling the heat within an edifice, building, barn or other similar structures, to insure uniformity of heat distrihution therein.

- One of the primary objects of this invention is to provide means actuated by natural phenomena for automatically effecting the substantially equal distribution of heated air within a tobacco curing barn to maintain a uniform temperature'therein.

I Another object of this invention is to provide wind driven ventilating means for a tobacco curing barn, the means including apparatus for directing an air current within the barn in direct opposition to the direction of the wind.

A further object of this invention is-to provide a windmill type of device for driving air circulation means within a building, barn or other edifice, the air circulating means being automatically controlled by the windmill device so as to direct an air current toward that side of the building, barn or edifice, against which the wind directly impinges.

This invention contemplates, as a still furtherobject thereof, the provision of a device of the type generally. referred to above which is non-complex in construction and assembly, inexpensive to manufacture, and durable inu'se.

Other and further objects and advantages of the pres ent invention will become more evident from a consideration of the following specification when read in conjunction with the annexed drawings, in which:

-Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a wind driven ventilating means for automatically directing an air current within an edifice in a predetermined direction, the wind driven apparatus being constructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the wind driven air circulating apparatus illustrated in Figure 1, Figure 2 being partly in vertical cross-section;

Figure 3 is an enlarged, detailed, fragmentary, crosssectional view of the wind driving means, together with its power take-off shaft;

Figure 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detailed, crosssectional view, taken substantially on the vertical plane of line 4-4 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

' Figure 5 is an enlarged, detailed, cross-sectional view taken substantially on the horizontal plane of line 55 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows; and ;Figure 6 is an enlarged, detailed, cross-sectional view taken substantially on the horizontal plane of line 6-6 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

'Referring now more specifically to the drawings, referenc'enumei'al 10 designates, in general, a wind driven, circulating device, constructed in accordance with 2,931,287 Patented Apr. 1960 this invention. As illustrated therein, the device 10 is broadly seen to comprise a wind driven impeller 12 mounted on the roof 14 of a barn 16 or other similar.

edifice, the impeller 12 being connected through suitable driving means with a second impeller 18 mounted for rotation within a rotatable plenum chamber 20 supported within the barn or edifice 16.

. the drum 26. As is seen in the drawings, the two outer spaced portions 32, 34 of the hinge barrel for each impeller blade are secured to the circumference of the drum 26. The inner end of each impeller blade is fixedly secured to an intermediate hinge barrel portion 36,

. the latter being disposed intermediate the hinge barrel a per end thereof. The upper end of the shaft'68 is sta bilized in a boss which projects inwardly. of the gear 1 box 58, and the driven shaft 68 projects outwardly of] the gear box 58 through a bearing 72 carried thereby, the shafts 52 and 68 being disposed at substantially portions 32, 34 with their respective adjacent ends being disposed in longitudinally spaced relation. A pintle pin 38 extends through the hinge barrel portions 32, 34 and 36 to efiect the pivotal connection between the blades 28 and the drum 26.

Pivotal movement of the blades 28 in one direction is limited by connecting the hinge barrel portions 36 ad jacent the inner ends of the blades 28 in such a manner that when the blades 28 are in their normal working or operative positions, the inner ends 40 thereof abut against the drum 26 to prevent rotation thereof in a clockwise direction beyond their respective operative positions, reference being made at this point to the full line position of the blade 28 illustrated in Figure 4.

The blades 28 are constantly biased for pivotal movement toward their respective operative positions by means of a substantially U-shaped spring 42. As is seen in Figures 3 and 4, the spring 42 includes a bight 44 from the ends of which extend a pair of laterally spaced arms 46, 48 which engage against the blades 28 and have portions thereof extending through the spaces between the aforementioned adjacent ends of the hinge barrel portions 32, 34, 36 and around the pintle pin 38. The outer ends of the arms 46, 48 terminate in lateral extensions 46', 48' which bear against the hinge plate 50" utilized to secure the hinge barrel portions 32, 34 to 5 An elongated drive shaft 52 has one of its ends fixedly I secured within the impeller hub 22 for rotation with the impeller 12. The other end of the drive shaft 52 is journaled for rotation in a bearing 54 disposed in a boss 56 protruding from a substantially hollow gear box 58. The other end of the shaft 52 extends into the gear box 58 and has a hub 60 of a bevel gear 62 rigidly se' cured thereon.

The bevel gear 62 meshes with a bevel gear 64 dis?" posed within the gear box 58, the gear 64 having'a hub" 66 rigidly secured to a driven shaft 68 adjacent the up- 7 angles with respect to each other.

jecting into said housing, and a gear train disposed Within said housing for connecting said first shaft in driving relation with said second shaft.

4. Air distributing means for a building or edifice having a roof, as defined in claim 3, wherein said wind driven impeller is provided with a plurality of blades hingedly connected thereto for pivotal movement in one direction, and resilient means on said impeller constantly biasing said blades for pivotal movement in the other direction, said pivotal movement of said blades occurring about an axis inclined at an acute angle relative to the axis of said first shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Brenzinger June 9, 1874 Bell June 24, 1952 Troxell June 21, 1955 Howard Mar. 13, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS France Sept. 19, 1906 

